


Mikhail's new catch

by torna



Category: Xenoblade Chronicles, Xenoblade Chronicles 2
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Awkward Flirting, Bad Flirting, Bad Pick-Up Lines, Friends to Lovers, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Self-Hatred
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-12
Updated: 2018-01-12
Packaged: 2019-03-04 01:31:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13353684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/torna/pseuds/torna
Summary: After one final rejection from Patroka, Mikhail moves onto the other sibling to see if his luck is any better. But things are a little more complicated than he anticipated.(spoilers for up to chapter 6!)





	Mikhail's new catch

**Author's Note:**

> Huge thanks to Jac for proof reading and criticising my work to make it better! And thank you to Makki for the moral support. I love you both!

 

“How many times will it take for me to reject you for you to finally get the message, Mik?! I’m getting tired of this. This is why I hate you!” Patroka readied herself for a fatal slap, which for once, Mikhail dodged.   
“Aw, Patroka? I’m starting to think you don’t like me the way I like you. Is that true?” He asked in a playful voice, flipping his hair and winking at her. Patroka looked like she was about to explode with anger upon seeing this.   
“You knock me SICK Mikhail! Of course I don’t like you that way, I’ve been telling you that this entire goddamn time! Wow, what is wrong with you?!”  
“Woah… This is coming as such a huge shock to me… Are you telling me that wasn’t playful banter like I thought it was?” Patroka looked at him like he was an absolute idiot, the biggest fool in Alrest. Mikhail lowered his gaze to the ground, how had he missed this? Well, he hadn't exactly missed it, more so chosen to ignore it. That was probably a bad idea.

“Find someone else to obsess over, I’ve had enough of it.” She turned around, and looked over her shoulder at him one last time, “The next time you talk to me you better be apologising, or introducing me to a cute girl. Or both.” With a stomp of her foot, she stormed off and left, leaving Mikhail alone.

 

Find someone else? How could he do that? Patroka had been the object of his affections for so long, he was convinced if he tried hard enough he could make her like him. Guess that probably only made things worse. Maybe he could be a bit too much, and painfully persistent to be completely honest with himself, but is wanting to find love really such a bad thing?

 

“Hey, Mikhail? What's up with you?” A voice spoke up, snapping him out out of his thoughts. He looked up to a familiar face, reminding him of Patroka - except more masculine -  her brother Akhos.   
“Hey Akhos, nothing much, just got off the receiving end of one of your sisters verbal lashings, nothing new.”  
“Ha, nothing new indeed. She really let you have it this time, didn’t she? That’s my sister for you. You really should move on, there are plenty of fish in the sea.”  
Mikhail looked into his eyes, “Yeah, I guess I wi-” He was interrupted by a realisation. He failed at romancing one sibling, why not try the other? Akhos was kind of similar to Patroka, he could be mean like her, except that was mainly limited to his enemies and not his friends and allies, and their eyes were the same shade of misty blue. The gender of his partner was really no big deal to Mikhail either, and he was almost 100% sure that Akhos swung that way. He’d actually caught Akhos checking out Jin and Malos a couple of times, and who could blame him? Their leaders are good looking guys after all. Mikhail would be interested in them himself, if he wasn’t almost certain that there was something going on between the two.

 

“You know what, I think I’ve just found my new big catch.” Mikhail grinned. Akhos stared at him long and hard as he tried to process what Mikhail had just said, and the implications of it all. He opened his mouth several times to start speaking, but stopped himself each time before settling on just saying one single word.  
“...What.”  
This was it, Mikhail knew it. Time to lay on some classic Mikhail charm. “Hey Akhos, do you have a map?”  
“H-hang on a second, what does that have to do with what you just said to me? Can we talk about this?”  
“Because I’m getting lost in your eyes.”  
Akhos stared at him, dumbfounded as a blush slowly began to creep onto his face. He adjusted his glasses and finally looked away, “I just realised I, uh, have a job Jin asked me to do. Goodbye.” He stammered before power walking off as if his life depended on it.

 

Well that didn’t go terribly, he thought to himself, it actually went pretty well! He didn’t know why he had doubted himself, nobody can resist the charm of Mikhail… Except Patroka of course. And then there was that girl he played with as a child in old Torna. Oh, and also that cute guy he met in Indol. And… probably a few others he was forgetting. Just a few more victories like that, and no doubt everything would be perfect. Mikhail decided to take his victory for now, and went to work on the ship for a bit while the day was still young, there was plenty of time to lay on some more charm later.

 

One day of work later and it was time to kick back and relax. Usually around this time of night (as long as he wasn't on any missions) Jin would make dinner for them all to eat together. They were all quite tightly knit, and Mikhail had come to think of Torna like his family, ever since he lost his in the Aegis war. Even Malos, who most people just thought of as an evil tool of destruction, had a secret soft spot for his Torna teammates, Jin especially, considering how he literally took the man in off the streets and let him lead Torna over him himself. He waltzed into the dining area and the smell of beef stew hit his nose immediately, one of his favourites. “Jin, you never fail to impress! Dinner smells amazing tonight, as always!” he exclaimed, gesturing his hands dramatically all the while. He looked over to the table and to his surprise saw Jin sat at the head of the table, with Malos and Patroka on either side of him.  
“Actually, Akhos decided he wanted to cook tonight, Mik.” Jin said.  
“Oh did he now? I can’t wait to try it,” Mikhail replied, taking a seat next to Malos. Better to sit there instead of next to Patroka, just in case she snapped at him again.

 

After about a minute of waiting, Akhos finally walked in with a large bowl of stew for them all to share. Before Akhos could say anything to anyone, Mikhail decided to lay on the sweet moves.  
“Hey Akhos, What’s on the menu tonight?”  
“Didn’t anyone tell you? We’re havi-”  
“Me-n-u.” He said slyly, with a wink and a grin.  
The room was filled with complete silence for about 3 seconds, before Patroka burst into obnoxious laughter, obviously unable to hold it in any longer. Jin and Malos exchanged confused looks with one another, and Akhos, looking rather flustered, placed the bowl in the middle of the table with a slam.  
“As I was saying, we’re having stew, you buffoon.” Ouch, that stung.  
Malos, who had been shifting his eyes between Jin and the scene in front of him, finally spoke up, “Am I missing something here?”  
“You didn't miss anything anything at all Malos.” Akhos cooly replied. Ouch again. Malos looked like he was about to say something else, but Jin placed his hand over his and looked him in the eyes, and they seemingly reached some sort of mutual understanding without even needing words. And so everyone began to eat in silence.

 

After a while of eating surrounded by an awkward tension, Mikhail decided to try his luck again.  
“Hey Akhos, was your dad a boxer? Because you’re a knockout!”  
Jin coughed. Mikhail tried to hold up his flirtatious grin, despite the awkwardness of the situation and the fact that everyone at the table was staring at him. After a while of staring, Akhos finally replied.  
“I was born a blade, I don’t have a father.”  
Mikhail's smile faltered slightly. “Well you have a sister, don’t you?” he retorted.   
Malos stood up out of his chair, “Okay, thats it, somebody explain the meaning of all of this. What’s going on here? You two have been acting weird all night.”  
Patroka laughed again, she had obviously pieced all of the information together. “I think I have a good idea of what’s going on here.”  
“Care to explain?” Malos replied, deadpan.   
Patroka grinned, “I think Mikhail has finally found someone to pin his affections on that isn’t me.”  
“Oh, really.” Malos said with a smirk. “How do you feel about this, Akhos?” This was it, Mikhail thought, the moment of truth.  
“It’s embarrassing really, I don’t understand it. And of course I don’t feel the same way.” Akhos finally said, bright red and avoiding meeting eyes with everyone at the table, especially Mik. Mikhail didn’t believe it for a second.  
“Tell them how you really feel, it’s okay, you’re among friends. And more.” He finished with another obnoxious wink. Malos and Patroka at this point were barely holding back laughter, and Jin was just watching in silent shock. He looked over at Akhos, who was still blushing, but just looked more confused than anything.  
“I, uh-”

 

Jin stood up and finally spoke, “It’s getting late, you two should rest. You’re both coming with me tomorrow on a mission to steal a ship transporting core crystals to Indol. Be ready at 7AM tomorrow morning.” Akhos looked completely at a loss for words, and just stared, still slightly blushing from earlier. Mikhail used this silence to his advantage.  
“I guess tomorrow will be our first date, hey Akhos? Hope you don’t mind third wheeling, Jin.”  
“Of course not.” Jin had a hint of a smile on his face as he said this.  
“Jin can live for now. Mikhail, i’m going to kill you.” Akhos shouted as he stormed off, Patroka following him, leaving just Mikhail, Jin and Malos in the room. A sudden hand on his shoulder startled him slightly, and he turned around to see that it belonged to Jin.  
“He doesn’t mean that. He’s just… embarrassed. He’s working through his own issues. I want what’s best for both of you, and you both deserve a little more happiness in your lives. If you can find that together, I’d be very happy for you both.” He told him with a slight smile. He felt another hand ruffling his hair and looked up to see Malos.  
“Go for it, Mik.” He said with a signature smirk, “I have a feeling this one may actually work out for you.”  
Jin turned to head out, and Malos followed him. Mikhail noticed that they both headed in the direction of Jin’s room, even though Malos’ room was in the opposite direction. Interesting. He was glad to have finally gotten the approval of the other members of the team, but he did wonder what the issues Akhos had that Jin mentioned, and what was holding him back. Tomorrow was going to be interesting, he thought, and headed to bed.

 

The following morning arrived, and Mikhail put his armour on in a rush, having overslept slightly. He finally showed up to see Jin and Akhos waiting for him. Jin was wearing his mask, unlike the night before. He didn’t see the need to cover up his core crystal among the other members of Torna, and felt comfortable enough around them to go maskless. It was a different matter for public places though. Jin, Akhos and Patroka all preferred to keep their Flesh Eater status hidden from people outside their group, after all, the public opinion on Flesh Eaters wasn't the best.  
“Finally. I was starting to wonder if we should postpone a day or two.” Akhos said smugly.  
“I bet you were, so that you could have me to yourself for an extra day.” He retorted as he put his arm over A khos’ shoulder, who at this point was at a complete loss for words and looked like he was about to explode.  
“Keep your cool. We’ll all need to be focused for the mission ahead” Jin stated calmly.  
Akhos sighed and adjusted his glasses, “Of course, Jin. Apologies.”

 

The target ship was docked at Mor Ardain, ready to be sent to the Indoline Praetorium. They took the Torna Warship to a fairly quiet part of Mor Ardain,then travelled the rest of the way on foot. They tried their best to avoid the eyesight of passing humans by travelling high up and sticking to more deserted areas, and when they eventually arrived at the docks, they managed to sneak onboard the ship undetected. The hard parts were to come: hiding and waiting for the ship to set off into the cloud sea, and the battle ahead. The only place they could find to hide on such short notice without being seen was in the storage room, and that’s the story of how Akhos and Mikhail came to be hiding in an empty crate together with Jin in the one next to them.  
“I can’t believe I let Jin talk me into this.” Akhos mumbled.  
Mikhail gave him a reassuring smile, which he realised the other man probably couldn’t see in the darkness of the crate, “Hey c’mon, it's not so bad. You’re so short, there's more than enough room for the two of us in here!” He expected a snarky or angry response to this, but instead he got nothing. “That was just a joke, I didn’t mean to upset you Akhos, I’m sorry if I did.”  
“Why.”  
“Huh?”  
“Why are you so persistent… What good does it do you?”  
“I’m not sure I follow… I like you, isn’t that obvious?”   
“But… how? How could you love someone like me, you know what I am.”  
Mikhail opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, there was a knock on the crate, and Jin helped them out. He could finally see Akhos’ face now there was light. He looked upset. The instinct to protect and reassure took over, but before he could Jin spoke up.  
“I hate to interrupt, but we have a job to do.” He headed towards the door as they climbed out. Mikhail offered Akhos a hand, which he looked at in consideration, looking confused.  
“C’mon, I don’t bite! Don’t you trust me?” He jested. To his surprise he didn’t get a response, but he felt another hand in his as Akhos accepted his offer. He pulled him up, avoiding eye contact,  and they both followed Jin.

 

As they exited the storage room, they came across one problem: a split path. Jin sighed,   
“I guess there's only one way. We’ll split up. You two can go together, I can handle myself.”  
Mikhail grabbed this opportunity, “Thats fine with me, Jin! I’ll make sure no harm comes to Akhos here, you can count on me!” He put his arm over Akhos’ shoulders and pulled him in as he gave a thumbs up, with a big grin plastered over his face. Akhos surprised him again and didn’t even give him a hard time for it. Jin just watched in silence, and Mikhail imagined that he had one eyebrow raised under the mask.   
“Very well.” He said as he turned his back on them, “Stay safe.”  
Mikhail, with his arm still over Akhos, lead him in the opposite direction. “I guess this is it then. Our first date has officially started. Maybe we could use this chance for you to finally tell me what's been up with you?”  
“I really don’t think now is the time for us to start talking about our feelings, Mik.” They carried on walking down the corridor.  
“No, I think this is the perfect time. There’s something on your mind that’s making you hold back. It’s making you feel unworthy, and after earlier I think I have a good idea of what it is.” His voice started to raise unintentionally, as if he temporarily forgot where he was currently.   
“Mikhail. Now is HARDLY the time.” His voice sounded sad, and as usual when it came to these situations, he couldn’t look Mikhail in the eyes.  
“The truth is, Akhos, I really care about you. I think I might be falling for you, and it hurts me to see you this way.”

 

A look of realisation flashed across Akhos’ face for a second, and he finally looked at Mikhail in the eyes, opened his mouth to say something. But before he could, a loud bang was heard, and they both looked in the direction of the origin. Three Ardanian soldiers came out of the door at the end of the hallway, ready to attack. Akhos stepped forward, but before he could take another step, Mikhail put his arm out in the way.   
“Leave these guys to me. They’re no match.” He said reassuringly, pulling out his combat fans ready for battle. The first soldier charged, Mikhail gracefully evaded. As he readied himself to counterattack, he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around to see the second soldier approaching and readying his rifle, and then finally pulling the trigger, which he blocked with his left fan just just in time. He grinned cockily at this small win, completely oblivious to the closer threat he had just dodged which was about to hit him in the face, literally. The back of the rifle hit him square in the face, and Mikhail staggered back, wiping the blood now coming from his nose with the back of his fist. He quickly retaliated by slashing the sides of the first soldier with his combat fans, and then turning to kick the second soldier behind him. As he knocked the soldier out of the way, the third soldier came into view, aiming his rifle. He fired, and Mikhail went to dodge, but was just slightly too late as it grazed his cheek. This battle was starting to look unwinnable. A loud sudden shouting snapped him out of his thoughts.  
“ENOUGH!”

 

A large pulse of red energy radiated through the air, Mikhail looked around for the source and noticed it was coming from Akhos. He had his bow aimed and ready to fire, and released it. His arrow was a flash of light, and the first soldier fell. He turned back around to look at Akhos, but he wasn’t there anymore. He looked around, and noticed him behind the two remaining soldiers, who both looked visibly confused and afraid. He pulled back his arrow again and shot the second soldier in the head at point blank range. Poor guy never even knew what hit him. The last remaining soldier turned around in horror, but again, his attacker wasn’t there anymore. Akhos appeared behind him again in a flash, and knocked him out with the side of his bow. Mikhail was shocked, he could swear he even rivaled Jin.

 

Mikhail simply stared at him for a while, before uttering two words: “Holy. Shit.” He waited for a response, some sort of explanation, but he got nothing. Akhos didn’t even turn around to look at him. So he tried again. “Akhos, what the hell just happened?”  
“This is what I am Mikhail, a freak, a monster. Surely you knew.”   
“Akhos, you’re not…” he murmured.   
“It feels like the whole world is against beings like me, they see me as little more than a freak, a stain on the earth. I shouldn't exist, yet here I am.”  
“You’re not a freak. I’ll end whoever said that to you.”  
“This is who I really am. How could you love or even… like something like me.”  
“I think I finally understand now.” Akhos turned around to look at him finally. Mikhail continued talking, “You’re afraid. Afraid to be loved. I can tell, you’ve been through a lot. More than I could understand. But I want to help you, Akhos.”  
“Others who saw me for what I really am felt disgust, they wanted me dead. How do I know you’re any different.”  
He started moving towards him, who was still on the other side of the corridor. “Give me a chance to prove it. Let me protect you. I can help you.” He slowed down as he reached his destination, and eventually stopped. Akhos was staring at him, wide eyed and visibly upset. His instincts took over, and he pulled him into a tight hug. “Let me help you.” They stayed like that for a moment, and finally he felt two arms wrap around him in return. He smiled.

 

After several seconds of quiet embracing passed, they were finally interrupted by the sound of a door opening, from the other side of the corridor, where they originally came in from. Mikhail readied himself for another attack, but to his relief it was just Jin.  
“Sorry to interrupt. The other side is empty, but I took all the soldiers out. The control room must be up ahead.”  
Both Akhos and Mikhail felt uncomfortable after being walked in on in such an intimate moment, but Jin didn’t seem to realise what he’d interrupted. Or if he did, he didn’t show it. Jin walked straight past them, seemingly oblivious. Akhos adjusted his glasses and dusted himself off, before finally looking up at Mikhail, “Thank you.”

 

The mission ended swiftly after that, and they had successfully taken more core crystals out of the hands of Amalthus and the rest of Indol. Akhos had fallen asleep on the transport ship on the way back, tired after the fight and much emotional distress. Mikhail took it upon himself to carry him back onto the main ship. When they entered, Patroka and Malos were there to greet them. Malos let out an obnoxious laugh and turned to Patroka.  
“Told you they’d work out. You owe me 1000 gold.”  
Mikhail had expected Patroka to lash out in anger, but instead she simply handed over the gold and walked towards Mikhail.  
“I’m happy for you both, really. Maybe now you’re over me you can finally stop pissing me off all the time so I can not hate you for once.”  
Mikhail couldn’t believe his ears. “Aw, Patroka! You really do care about me!”  
“WHAT? Of course I don’t! This is why I can’t stand you! I was only saying, if you play your cards right maybe we could be friends one day.” She stammered.  
Mikhail smiled, “I look forward to it.”

 

He eventually arrived at Akhos’ room and placed him under the covers of his bed. He figured it would be a good idea to wait for him to wake up so they could talk some more, and sat on the other side of the bed to wait. His nose and cheek were still hurting from earlier, but he didn’t really care. Eventually, and accidentally, he drifted off to sleep himself. He had no idea how long the two of them were out for, but when Mikhail eventually opened his eyes, to his surprise Akhos had moved from where he had placed him originally, and now had his face buried into his chest. Mikhail worried at first, wondering if something was wrong, before realising that he had obviously woken up, gotten closer to him, and then fallen back asleep.

 _Heh,_ he thought to himself, _guess he really does like me back._ Mikhail wrapped his arms around him and kissed the top of his head. He had plenty of jobs and chores to do, but in that moment he didn’t even care, and drifted back to sleep as they lay there together.

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah, this kinda got... For a lack of a better or real term, projecty towards the end? I kind of relate to the Flesh Eaters due to things I've experienced as an lgbt person, and I guess this shows it. I honestly don't know what i'd want someone to say to me to help me so I had a hard time writing it, but hopefully I got it right!


End file.
